Popular book about Vitruvius (not by Vitruvius)

September 23, 2019 3:48 PM

I'm trying to find the title of a book which takes the Roman engineer Vitruvius as its starting point and goes onto to discuss the influence of Roman building in later years.

I half read this book seven to ten years ago and would like to get a copy to finish it.

When I say "popular" I mean it's not intended for student of architecture but for a more general reader.

The copy I read was : small format paperback; and had a the Leonardo De Vinci "Vitruvian Man" as a cover illustration.

I'm reasonably sure the title did not mention Vitruvius. I thought the publisher was a very mainstream publisher but I can't really be sure.

The copy I had would have been published in the past twenty years.

posted by southof40 to Society & Culture (4 answers total)

It might be Theatre of the World by Frances A. Yates. The edition that I have has a Vitruvian man as a cover illustration, though not the famous Da Vinci one.
posted by rjs at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2019

Response by poster: @rjs thank you for your suggestion. That's not the book I had in mind but it does look like a very interesting book !
posted by southof40 at 2:20 PM on September 24, 2019

Best answer: Might it be Toby Lester, Da Vinci's Ghost? Amazon.
posted by brianogilvie at 4:06 AM on September 25, 2019

Response by poster: @brianogilvie Yes ! That's it ! Thank you very much. Did you remember from having read it or do you have search superpowers ? Thanks again.
posted by southof40 at 7:05 PM on September 25, 2019